Time is short for all of us, including those that live in the apartments we manage. Wake up early, get to the gym, get kids to school, and get to work, after school activities, après work events… Once the lease is signed, there is a good chance that you may never see their face again until it´s time to turn in the door keys. We can´t say that a resident portal will increase lease terms, but it certainly can´t hurt. After 6, 9 or 12 months it is likely that the novelty of the workout room, computer center or spa-like pool that were part of the renters decision to lease an apartment are now long forgotten.

Any successful relationship requires open lines of communication. Since we recognize that schedules keep us apart, we need to consider how to foster this relationship. This is where the resident portal comes into play. Open your communications to residents, 24-hours a day. Give residents the same level of service as though they were standing in your leasing offices.

Ellipse´s Resident Portal is designed as a community center and when coupled with Relate24/7^SM is the most efficient way to bridge the communication gap with your residents. Each portal provides convenient methods to offer fresh content to your residents. A single access point for online payment services, work requests and even offer a local network of merchants. Relate24/7^SM efficiently sends email to every resident on a regular basis with little effort from your onsite staff.

Ellipse has bridged the gap for your communications needs to your residents. Each portal project is unique in design tailored around the specific property´s needs. Adoption is all but guaranteed when used in conjunction with Relate24/7^SM. As they say, “Close the back door”: don´t let your residents walk away because you forgot about them. When selecting a resident portal, be sure to take into consideration the value and benefit of effective communications. Give your residents more than one reason to be part of your online community. Select a provider that offers the renter any number of reasons to return to the site, not just to pay rent…

While Ellipse isn´t directly in the "apartments in social media" business, we do offer free advice pretty regularly to our clients and anyone else who asks. A few weeks ago, we had a client send us a link to their Facebook "page" that they wanted Ellipse to add to their website. Like many apartments we´ve seen, their Facebook account was setup incorrectly. The following is from an email between Ellipse´s Project Manager, Robby Herrage, and an unnamed client. *names have been changed to protect the innocent*

One thing that I noticed in testing out Superman Place´s Facebook Profile is that it is set up as a Person (Personal Profile Page) as opposed to a Business (Fan Page). You can recognize this by viewing the button at the top of the profile page that displays the text “+ add as a friend.”

However, the other Facebook Profile links you sent me have this text showing up on the same button – [Become a Fan] – *This is correct*

To confirm this, please follow the instructions below and you´ll be able to see that Superman Place´s Facebook Profile is not a Fan Page:

1. To test this, please make sure that you are logged out of Facebook.
2. Then, click on the link that you sent me for your property´s Facebook.
3. Then notice upon clicking that link, it takes you to Facebook´s “Login Page” saying, “You must be logged in to view this page.”

As previously mentioned, the main reason the link is not working properly is because whoever set up the Facebook Profile didn´t set it up as a “Business”, but rather as a “Person”. Therefore, there is no way for the link to work without having to create a whole new “Business Fan Page”, which would then result in the property losing any/all friends associated to the current profile page.

In my Spacebook Expert opinion, I would suggest that you have whoever set up the page create a new “Business Fan Page” for the property, while keeping the profile you currently have up and running. Then you or they can send me the new Business Fan Page link. You can create your fan page by going to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php

Lastly, once the new Fan Page is set up, you or they will need to go to the current profile page and post something to the wall asking all the current friends to become a fan of the new one Fan Page.

I´m Joe Foster, and I have probably seen your favorite movie. For the next several issues of More than just a Newsletter I will be challenging our readers to name the four multifamily-relevant films described below. The answers will appear in the following MTJAN. Send your guesses to me at jfoster@ellipseinc.com: if you answer all four correctly, you´ll be invited to participate in a future Apartment Cinema quiz.

• Film #1: GENRE – Dark Comic Horror, CATEGORY – Resident lifestyle, WHY IT´S MULTIFAMILY – A charming Yuppie Serial Killer performs most of his grisly murders within the confines of a spacious luxury apartment. A model resident, he covers all his flooring with plastic lining to protect his security deposit.
• Film #2: GENRE – Classic Romantic Comedy, CATEGORY – Resident Romance, Fair Housing, WHY IT´S MULTIFAMILY – Initially included as a suggestion for an inoffensive romantic comedy with a plot revolving around tenant neighbors falling in love, the world today is one of evolving cultural morays. What was once viewed as playful and humorous may now have ominous implications. As much as audiences have loved this movie over the years, it contains a pervasive, hurtful caricature of a Japanese character that renders it wholly inappropriate for clubhouse or poolside Movie Night.
• Film #3: GENRE – Indie Coming–of–Age comedy, CATEGORY - Prospect Profiling, WHY IT´S MULTIFAMILY - Becky and Enid are high school graduates who share a sense of bemused contempt for the world at large. Becky´s young adult nesting instinct leads her to pressure Enid into renting an apartment together, which slowly unravels their friendship. The honesty of the tension and hostility between best friends renting an apartment is something to watch for in your prospects. If the renters in your office or your model remind you of Becky and Enid, you may be facing a dead end.
• Film #4: GENRE – Workplace “Dramedy”, CATEGORY - Inter-agent camaraderie/rivalry, WHY IT´S MULTIFAMILY - This one is strictly for agents. Anyone in a leasing office should be able to view this film and take solace; nothing can get as bad as this. Take a half-dozen of the best American actors, cast them as larger-than-life real estate salesmen scrapping and scheming over fresh leads. Add a prevailing sense of dread and razor-sharp dialog from a household-name playwright. You will feel *much* better about where you go to work every morning.